Wright State to award posthumous degree to former student

Wright State University today will recognize a “courageous” young woman who for three years pursued a bachelor’s degree even as a neurological disease rendered her deaf, legally blind and bound to a wheelchair.

When Samantha Laux is honored at the fall graduation ceremony, her service dog, a golden retriever named Dylan, will walk across the stage to accept her posthumous degree in psychology.

“It will be a very inspirational moment,” said Wright State University President David Hopkins.

“I think Sam taught all of us what it means to be courageous. What she accomplished in such a short 23 years was, I think, more than most people do in their lifetime because of her courage to try new things and follow her dreams,” he said. “She just focused on all of her abilities and not her disability.”